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A few weeks ago, I figured it was time to put some effort into learning the Taz Machine. I'd played with it, from time to time, but there were other tricks I wanted to improve, especially the Slot Machine. Last summer I felt that I had them down, but this spring it was like I took two steps back. It took a while longer then I thought to regain my touch. With the Slot Machine dialed in, the next step would be the Taz Machine.

From I what I read about the Taz, I figured it would take time to put all the pieces together. The first step would be to play with the half axel, with the nose flared up. Years ago, somebody mentioned on FA, that a person should do half axels until their fingers bleed. I took that advice to heart, and have spent a lot of time working on and refining my half axels. It only took a few attempts to get the nose to flare up.

The toughest part, I figured in learning the Taz, would be getting the timing down, when to give the input for the rotation, and how strong to make the input. A Slot Machine, is dependent upon proper technique. If the kite is not in the right position, the input is too strong, not enough slack, at the very least you get a slot that looks odd, worst case a tip wrap. A lot of experienced fliers, have mentioned that the Slot was easier to learn then the Taz. That didn't do much for my confidence in learning the Taz.

Today when the winds settled down, it was time to work on the Taz. Remembering early stages of the slot, I was prepared to do numerous walks. The first few rotated, but I didn't give them enough slack. On the third attempt, it completed the rotation. To say the least I was pleasantly surprised. After the sixth Taz, I was really feeling good.

This was the easiest time I had getting through the initial stages of a trick. It was only easy because of all the time I spent on the Half Axel and Slot. What also simplified the learning process was Randy G's and Martin's tutorials.

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